Newspaper Investigated for Anti-Militarist Support

Recently, singer Bülent Ersoy made headlines in Turkey for saying, “If I could have had a son, I would not have sent him to the military.” She now faces an investigation for “alienating the public from the military service.”

After an article in the Taraf newspaper supported Ersoy, the Kadiköy Chief Public Prosecution in Istanbul called the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Ahmet Altan and his deputy editor Yasemin Congar to make a statement on Tuesday (18 March).

No basis for investigation

In a column in Taraf, Altan later told his readers that they refused to give a statement and argued with the prosecutor about procedures.

Altan told the prosecutor that they could not be investigated for “praising a crime and a criminal” if there was no crime. The prosecutor replied that this was in order to avoid time limitations.

Altan argued that as long as it was not clear whether Ersoy would be tried, she could not be denoted a criminal and nor could her utterances be described as a crime. “According to which law did they call us? How did the prosecution decide that Bülent Ersoy is ‘guilty’? Have they go such authority? No.”

On 26 February 2008, the newspaper had written an article of support entitled “’Mother Courage’ without Giving Birth.”

Miroglu detained for use of Kurdish 

On 14 March, another writer at the newspaper, Orhan Miroglu, was taken into custody with handcuffs and taken to the Ankara 11th Criminal Court of Peace.

He had been called by the Ankara police a day before to make a statement. When he went to the police the next day, he found out that he was to be detained.

When he objected that he had come by himself and could not be taken into custody, he was told, “we looked for you everywhere but could not find you.”

Miroglu asked, “You called me on the phone, do you know my phone number but not my address?”, but was not given an answer.

After eight hours of custody, Miroglu found out that he had been taken into detention for greeting people in Mersin, southern Turkey, in Kurdish during his election campaign as an independent candidate in the last elections, and that he was also being held responsible for the people singing Kurdish songs. Miroglu was released after giving a statement. (EÖ/AG)